First Pitch: Jacks have steady hand at backup quarterback

BROOKINGS – If not for two transfers, Tyler Finnes would be in a dogfight this spring to retain a roster spot for fall camp at South Dakota State.

Instead, he's the No. 1 quarterback, running the show as program passing leader Austin Sumner rehabs from shoulder surgery.

The Jackrabbits are fortunate that Finnes, a recruited walk-on and upcoming junior, had a passion for the game and was willing to wait. Otherwise, they'd be down to two available signal callers – both true freshmen.

"He wanted to play football at a high level, wanted to be an engineer so that narrows the focus," SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said. "Our program's kind of built on 'pursue your dream' whether you're a full scholarship guy or a non-scholarship guy, freshman or a senior. He's a picture of that."

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Finnes ran and threw for more than 1,000 yards and earned Minnesota second-team all-state honors as a senior at Andover High. He got looks from NCAA Division II schools and early attention from North Dakota, then rather quickly accepted a preferred walk-on offer from SDSU. Over three years, he's filled out, mastered the offense and – most importantly – kept showing up, willing to be a long-term practice player behind Sumner.

Scholarship quarterbacks Eric Kline and Nate Meyer weren't, Kline leaving last summer for Minnesota-Duluth and Meyer moving at semester break to St. Cloud State. In short order, the Jacks were short on arms.

There's help on the way this fall in junior college transfer Zach Lujan and high school recruit Chris Little, initially a Wyoming commit. Nonetheless, Finnes has become more valuable than anybody could have predicted. This spring, he's charged with keeping the offense on track; next fall, he'll be by far the most entrenched QB behind the senior Sumner on what could be a preseason top-10 team.

SDSU has made the FCS playoffs the last two seasons.

"It's a great opportunity not only for me, but all of our young guys," Finnes said. "We'll get a lot more reps – reps that we wouldn't normally get. It's a great opportunity for us to grow and get better as an entire football team."

Team-first – that's the proper way to play it and seems plenty authentic in this situation. Still, quarterback is such a visible and vital position. Surely, Finnes – a mechanical engineering major – must have designs on certain areas of improvement.

"I think I need to get better making reads quicker," he said.

If all else fails, he's not afraid to run – he did that several times Monday during the fourth workout of the spring season. SDSU added more quarterback runs to its play calling in the late stages last season with decent success, and Finnes is a more natural runner than Sumner, according to Stiegelmeier. He's also capable of making all of the throws in the offense.

The problem is that Finnes has yet to run or pass in a college game. The Jacks need him to get ready to be able to do both.

"He has to believe deep down inside he can do it," Stiegelmeier said. "Because when the bullets are flying that's a huge factor in how he performs."